All They Had Was Chocolate
by TheAuthorRin
Summary: As always, Tamaki took something small and silly and blew it way, way out of proportion. [The tale of Haruhi's thoughtless mistake and Tamaki's quest for pudding.]
1. Chapter 1

**A/N:** Hello once again, all! Another Ouran fiction! Huzzah!

This was a quick idea I had while eating pudding this evening—but as I thought it through it began to look not so little anymore! I hope you enjoy, anyhow.

Something slightly similar to this happened to me last year; I'll love the guy forever for doing this for me.

And thinking this out brought up the question: where do insanely rich people go to shop? I suppose the servants get the groceries at normal grocery stores, but…?!

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Ouran! If I did, I would not be holed up in my house for three weeks until school starts and going RAVING. But alas, it is Hatori Bisco-sensei who is free to roam the world… not I.

* * *

"Pudding."

Haruhi had spoken without thinking. The thought had simply burst into her mind and, without even realizing it, she had blurted it out for all else in the Third Music Room to hear.

Despite the fact that she dressed as a boy—despite the fact that, for the most part, the entire school thought she _was_ a boy—Haruhi was still, when it came all the way down to it, a woman. And every once and awhile, all women get strange cravings; it was a side-effect that simply came with puberty, and there wasn't really a way to get around it. Even Haruhi had to suffer through cravings; and since they were often cravings for strange foods that she could never dream of getting a hold on (ootoro immediately comes to mind), she tended to end up suffering all the worse.

But this craving was exceptionally strange in all circumstances—it had simply snuck up on her so quickly that she didn't quite have the time to consider the consequences for voicing it.

And she immediately regretted it.

Her fellow members of the host club all immediately stopped what they were doing to look up at her inquiringly, and she found herself (as she often did) wanting to shrivel up under their stares.

"Pudding?" Hikaru repeated, over the hand-held video game he was playing with his twin.

"What about pudding?" Kaoru asked.

Haruhi glanced around the room to see the reactions of the others. Hunny, who was sitting at a table along with her and Mori, had looked up from his slice of cake, his fork half-way up to his mouth, was now blinking up at her innocently. Mori was staring also, looking mildly interested (but mostly keeping an eye on Hunny).

Kyouya had paused from his typing in his laptop; as the moments wore on he returned to whatever he had been doing before. And Tamaki—Tamaki, who had been pacing along the windows, muttering to himself, trying to come up with another brilliant idea for next week's cosplay, had frozen where he was and turned his head to observe Haruhi, an excited look, for some reason, blooming across his face. He fell silent and began to inch closer to where the girl was sitting.

"Ah, yes… I'm sorry," she said finally, looking down into the depths of her tea cup. "I was just sort of thinking aloud. I suddenly had an urge to eat pudding…"

Tamaki inched closer.

"I never knew you liked pudding, Haru-chan!" Hunny squealed, flowers seeming to burst out of each of his words; he continued the consumption of his cake.

"Well… I don't particularly _like_ it, sempai," Haruhi replied slowly. "My father used to buy pudding cups for me when I was a child. I think he ended up eating more of them than I ever did." She almost felt like laughing at the recollection. "And they often sold them at school. They're a very popular snack."

Tamaki snuck closer.

"Sorry, Haru-chan, but I don't think we have any pudding!" Mori nodded silently in agreement. Then a lightbulb seemed to light up above Hunny's head. "But you can have some of my cake!" A plate holding the half-eaten slice of cake was pushed under her nose, and she gently pushed it away.

"Thank you, Hunny-sempai," she said, chuckling slightly. "But I think I'll be fine."

Tamaki scooted closer.

"I could call someone and get pudding delivered, Haruhi," Kyouya offered, holding up his cell phone; a light flashed across his glasses, making his face unreadable.

Haruhi suddenly noticed a rather menacing aura coming off of him. "N-no thank you, Kyouya-sempai…" she stuttered. _And how much would _that_ cost me? _This thought, thankfully, was kept within the confines of her mind.

Tamaki took one tiny, excited leap closer…

Without another word (though Haruhi imagined she could hear an evil laugh emitting from him), Kyouya went back to his typing.

The twins went back to their video game.

And Tamaki slid closer…

As Haruhi turned back to her tea, she noticed a strange sort of presence behind her. Slowly, very slowly, she turned her head, knowing what she was about to face and dreading it very, _very_ much.

What she saw were two glowing eyes—she barely had time to think, _oh no_, before she was swept up in a rather tight hug.

"Oh, Haruhi!" Tamaki exclaimed, spinning her around. "Oh, my dear daughter Haruhi! You must have what you want!"

Haruhi felt it unnecessary to struggle in his grasp; she knew if she ignored him he would eventually have to put her down. Nor did she feel it necessary to listen to what he was babbling on and on about. "Daddies exist to give their beloved daughters what they desire! And what kind of father would I be, if I were not to give Haruhi what she wants most in the world? Pudding—ha! It is almost an insult, how easy it would be for me to acquire pudding! And then I would give _you_ the pudding! And you would love it! You would _love _it! Ah ha ha ha ha!"

Her mind had long since wandered to other things; therefore she was not paying attention when he swiftly dropped her and she swayed on her feet for a moment, nearly losing her balance before regaining her composure.

Tamaki was already half way out the door. "I shall return soon from my quest, Haruhi! Await my return!" The door slammed behind him.

Haruhi stared after him, slightly in awe.

"I doubt he'll come back," Kyouya said, startling her out of her stupor and causing her to whirl around to face him. He hadn't looked up. "It's getting late, Haruhi. You can go home now."

She hesitated, looking back at the door for the briefest of moments before giving Kyouya a little nod and striding across the room to gather her things. On her way out the door she looked over her shoulder and said, "Goodbye, everyone. See you again tomorrow."

It was to the general mumblings of farewell (and the high-pitched "bye-bye" of Hunny) that she closed the door to the Third Music Room. _Things've been quiet lately,_ she thought, feeling slightly relieved, as she made her way to the exit.

Except for Tamaki. On the quiet days, Tamaki seemed louder than ever.

* * *

It was with a mission in his heart that Tamaki set out into that fine spring day.

His first stop on the quest was (as it seemed he had easiest access to) the second mansion's kitchen.

He must have given one of the maids a near heart attack when she walked in to find him rooting through the huge refrigerator, because he heard, behind his back, a loud squeal, closely followed by the sound of scattering footsteps; when he paused to look over his shoulder, he was alone. He returned to his task.

"Pudding cups… pudding cups…" he muttered, shoving aside jars and containers of unknown food stuffs aside in his search. He was very wrapped up in this that he did not even notice when another person entered the kitchen and came to stand directly behind him. When a voice spoke, he jumped a foot or two in the air.

"What might I ask you are doing, Young Master?"

"Sh-Shima!" She had startled him; it took a few seconds for him to regain his composure. He quickly struck a dramatic pose and exclaimed (in a very dramatic voice), "I am looking for pudding cups!" He shrunk down and stood so close to the old woman that their noses were nearly touching, looking at her with wide eyes. "Do you know where I could find some?"

She blinked at him and scooted back a few feet before replying.

"Might I suggest trying the supermarket, Young Master?"

"Of course!" he cried, straightening up and pointing an attractive finger to the ceiling. "The supermarket! Ingenious! Brilliant, simply amazing! Why didn't I think of it at first? Of course! The _supermarket_! Of _course_ they would have pudding cups!" And he ran out of the kitchen, out the front doors, and straight into the limousine that was waiting for him.

* * *

As he stepped foot into the commoner's supermarket and took one sweeping look about the scene that lay before him, Tamaki felt his heart lighten. He knew now that he was in a place that would, most certainly, have pudding cups.

He could see it now: Him, arriving at Haruhi's door, bearing the luscious pudding cups that she had for so long been longing after. And her, staring at him in surprise, before hugging him viciously and thanking him over and over for the pudding.

"Ah, yes," he sighed affectionately, imagining the look of excitement that would be placed upon Haruhi's face as she took the pudding cups from him. It would be such a lovely sight, and how he would feel for it!—he would have succeeded as a father, bringing his daughter true happiness!

He was so caught up in his fantasies that he gave quite a start when someone tapped him on the shoulder from behind.

"Huh? …Oh!" he exclaimed, spinning around on his heel to see a middle-aged woman standing behind him. "Can I help you, my dear woman?" He put on as much charm as he could, reviving himself from his zoned-out state and standing in a very attractive manner.

However, the lady did not smile. "Would you mind moving to the side?" she asked him.

He blinked in confusion.

With a sigh, the woman rolled her eyes. "You're blocking the doorway."

Tamaki finally noticed, for the first time, that he was, indeed, standing right in front of the door of the supermarket, blocking the woman's entrance. "Oh! Please excuse me!" He jumped aside and fell into a deep bow. "I was so careless! Please forgive me—" But when he raised himself back up to his full height, the woman was already gone. With a shrug of his shoulders, he continued onward with his journey.

* * *

The supermarket, it seemed, did not have any pudding cups.

It was a ridiculous thing to think of—that a grocery store would not carry pudding cups! The masses loved pudding cups—or this is what Tamaki assumed. So why would the supermarket not have pudding cups?

An hour later he was bordering on despair, wishing he could find a nice corner to curl up in and mope, after he had scoured the entire store in his search for pudding. He had been up and down every single one of the isles seven times each (and eight times down isle 13, if you counted the time when he had forgotten himself and accidentally gone down that one instead of the next one) and had found no evidence of pudding whatsoever.

It was disheartening. And slightly sickening. And so many other adjectives with bad connotations that he didn't feel like listing in his head at the moment.

And at the moment, he was slumped disgracefully over a display of cans of chicken broth—which wasn't very comfortable, if you were wondering. But he was exhausted.

And still pudding-less.

Which only added to the exhaustion.

He imagined Haruhi, sitting all alone at home and staring wistfully out of the window, wishing desperately for pudding. What kind of person was he, denying her this? How could he live with himself, being unable to grant her dearest wish? He was the worst sort of person.

Tears of frustration and self-pity leaked out from underneath his eyelids; he wanted to scream, he wanted to run around madly, he _wanted to find pudding cups…_

When Tamaki felt a light tap on his shoulder, much like the one from an hour prior to this, he was very slow to turn his head and face the person standing beside him. The man was wearing the plain green apron proclaiming his belonging to the store, and he had a skeptical look upon his face. "…Yes?" Tamaki weakly acknowledged him.

"Excuse me, sir, but I'm going to have to ask you to get off of the food display."

"Oh… yes… sorry…" Tamaki slowly stood up, but his head hung discouragingly low. He stood there, unmoving, simply staring at the man with a very dejected look on his face (very different from typical Host Club King behavior).

The store employee cleared his throat uncomfortably. "Um… is there… is there anything I can do to help you, sir? Is there something I can help you find?"

At this, Tamaki instantly brightened up; the expression he now wore made the man beside him think forcibly of a puppy-dog. "Really? Do you mean it? Will you help me?"

"Uh…" came the uncertain reply. "Uh… yeah. It's kind of what I'm getting paid for."

"Hooray!" Tamaki spun around a few times before stopping and facing the store employee and saying, very seriously, "I'm looking for pudding cups."

The man stared at him in disbelief. "Pudding cups?" he repeated incredulously. With a hefty sigh, he pointed at something behind Tamaki. "Right there."

"Hoh?" the blond squeaked, swiveling to see what the other was pointing at: The top of the shelf directly above where he had been slumped. Sure enough, at the very top sat a lone package of chocolate pudding cups.

He was so surprised he nearly fainted. In fact, he was half-way to the floor in a swoon when he caught himself—there were more important things to do right then than fainting! "I must retrieve the pudding!" he thought out loud; the words came out a bit louder than he intended, causing a few people passing by to throw him odd looks.

(Meanwhile, the employee snuck away. He really didn't want to have to deal with such an idiot.)

* * *

**Author's Note: **Well, it turned out being longer than a one-shot—but if all goes well, I should be able to finish it in two chapters. I could've fit it into one, but it probably would've been too long. And that might've sucked a little bit.

So anyways, here's the first chapter. I hope you liked it. I'd love comments; constructive criticism is good also. But mean comments aren't very nice. So… yeah.

The conclusion should be up soon! This has been—Rin


	2. Chapter 2

**Author's Note:** Hello again! And thank you for coming to read my second chapter; I is quite honored! Unfortunately, I am not in the writing frenzy that I was in last night, so let us hope that the sugar plum spice tea I am drinking brings about the creativeness!!!

And thank you—thank you!!!—for the few reviews I received! When one doesn't get a whole lot of reviews, the few that one does get are ultra special, and I love you all so much for them!!! You're lovely people, they were lovely reviews, and I'm glad you're enjoying it!

And please, if you're reading and didn't review for the first chapter, I encourage you to do so for this one! If you do review… I'll give you… cookies… You like cookies, don't you…?

And so, anyways… onward!!!!

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Ouran High School Host Club—nor do I own chocolate pudding cups. If I were to own either of these things, I am certain I would be living in the lap of luxury right now, drinking very _expensive_ tea that is more guaranteed to bring about the creativeness (and as you can clearly tell, I am not doing this)!

* * *

Tamaki could see the pudding. He could practically feel it in his hands—could practically taste its sweet chocolatey-ness on his tongue. 

But he couldn't quite reach it.

This could be a problem.

No matter how far he reached, no matter how high he jumped, he could not get his hands on that pudding (there was one time when the tip of his finger brushed the very bottom of it, but that's not exactly the point). "Why do they make the shelves so high that no one can reach?" he growled loudly, abandoning the attempt for a few seconds to rest before trying again.

It was hopeless; he couldn't possibly reach the prize which he longed so for. He frantically looked all about him, as though some sort of solution would present itself before his nose like magic.

And then… it did.

He could see the solution, which had suddenly presented itself right before his nose (rather much like magic).

And he knew what he had to do.

With a very dramatically determined expression upon his face, Tamaki swooped down the aisle and skidded to a stop in front of the towering wall of cereal boxes. He stuffed his arms full with them, disregarding what brand they may be, before taking one mad jump back to his spot beneath the pudding. And then he proceeded to pile the boxes, one atop the other.

"Aha!" he shouted, after successfully stacking up a two or three foot pile of cereal. He pointed an accusatory finger at the shelf holding the cups. "Now you can no longer thwart me, vile shelf! No longer can you hold me from acquiring happiness for my daughter! Ha ha ha!" He laughed a triumphant laugh and prepared himself to hop on top of the boxes.

It was a hard climb—but he finally made it to the top. When he straightened himself his eyes were level with the pudding; it seemed to be glaring at him irritably. "How dare you assume you, a lowly human, are able to retrieve me from this shelf?" it seemed to scoff at him.

This only served to infuriate Tamaki more.

"I _shall_ retrieve you from this shelf!" He swung his arms above his head, attempting to look as heroic as he could while standing atop a make-shift ladder of cereal boxes. "Await me, my dear Haruhi, for your loving father is going to bring you what you long for the most!"

But just as he said this, the box beneath his feet seemed to slide away. With a gasp, he scrambled about to regain his footing, but to no avail. He could feel himself falling, falling through the air, falling away from the _pudding_… In one crazy attempt to achieve his goal he swiped at the package atop the shelf, causing it to fall as well.

Everything from there seemed to happen in slow motion. He saw the pudding cups falling to the ground; he saw them burst upon impact and smatter the entire vicinity with chocolate stickiness. And he saw the entire pile of cereal disappear from under him.

He landed directly in the middle of the puddle of pudding with a thump and an _oof_. And he was immediately thereafter bombarded with what seemed like small, dusty pellets but which actually were, upon closer inspection, pieces of cereal.

On top of the pudding being ruined… all that cereal now lay on the ground surrounding him, like evidence of a battlefield from breakfast time.

Tamaki was too shocked to move; too shocked to say anything for a very long while. He merely sat and stared at the mess around him.

The supermarket employee from before had approached him again when he had heard the loud noises. "You know… you're going to have to pay for all of that."

* * *

Half an hour (and quite a bit of money) later, Tamaki once again sat in the back of his limo, only this time with a very heavy heart. The destroyed pudding had been the last in stock at the supermarket, which meant he was still completely and utterly puddingless. 

He sighed and leaned against the window, staring outwards. The sun had set long ago, leaving the world in darkness; it was getting late.

"Poor Haruhi," he murmured to himself, imagining the look of discontent that would be on her face when she arrived at school the next day. "No pudding to make her smile—" He broke off with a wail of anguish and stood up abruptly, hitting his head on the roof of the car. He pulled at his hair. "I'm a horrid father! I couldn't bring Haruhi happiness! I'm the worst! I don't deserve to live! I—" His rant was cut short when the limo jerked to a stop at a stoplight and he went flying into the divide between the cab and his back seat.

Thoroughly discouraged, he set himself back down in the seat, leaning back and throwing a dramatic hand across his eyes. "Oh, woe is me!" he moaned. He had never more wished for that Corner of Woe…

He couldn't stop thinking about Haruhi. He thought again of what her reaction would have been, had he shown up at her home holding pudding; the initial look of surprise in her big, chocolate eyes, and then the soft smile that would spread across her cherry lips… And he felt the blood rush into his face as he thought about her, about seeing her this way…

He pressed his face against the cool glass of the window to calm himself down. This hadn't been the first time he had had to do this—he'd often lately found himself thinking about Haruhi like this. And every time he had mentally punched himself; fathers aren't supposed to think of their daughters like this! It was simply unacceptable and a truly horrible thing.

Another sigh found its way out of his lips, fogging up the glass. He absentmindedly reached a hand up to wipe away the fug and, without thinking, peered out into the dark beyond, at the street corner where the car had stopped at the light. A small convenience store was sitting there, the lights from its front window lighting up the sidewalk before it; he saw a woman emerge from within, toting a paper bag and a gallon of milk.

In the split second it took him to blink and clear his head, everything seemed to click into place and he was again on his feet.

"A commoner's convenience store!" he exclaimed, holding his chin thoughtfully between his index finger and thumb. "Of course! That is a simply brilliant idea! People go to convenience stores all the time to buy pudding! Of course!"

As he was exclaiming in triumph the light turned green and the car began to move again, away from the little store. He flailed around in bewilderment. "On no! We're moving—away from the pudding! Wait! Driver—driver, STOP!"

His scream of "stop" must have startled the driver enough to give him a heart attack; on instinct he immediately slammed on the breaks in the middle of the intersection and Tamaki (again) went flying into the window behind the front seat. He peeled himself from the glass and flew out the door without another word, leaving the driver staring after him, thoroughly confused. The only thing that came to his mind was, "…Eh?!"

After dodging a few cars, using his Ultra-Super-Host-Club-King powers, Tamaki rushed into the little store. "You there! My good shopkeep!" He heavily propped himself up on the front counter with his hands and glared intensely into the eyes of the scruffly cashier. "Where do you keep your pudding?"

"…Pudding?" the man repeated, raising an eyebrow. With an, "uh," he pointed his finger down the aisle behind Tamaki and to the left and muttered, "That way."

The light had returned to Tamaki's radiant blue-violet eyes—his goal, at last, was in sight! Nothing would keep him from this now! "Thank you, thank you, my dear, dear man!" he cried, grabbing the man's hand and shaking it vigorously, and almost feeling like he could hug him. He turned on his heel and sashayed down the aisle, his heart singing. "Oh, Haruhi, Haruhi, my daughter! You shall have your pudding tonight! Trust your Daddy!"

He slid to a stop in front of a shelf and quickly scanned it. And there it was—sitting atop a package of chocolate chip cookies: A six-pack of chocolate pudding cups. With ultimate reverence, Tamaki slowly reached out his shaking hands and picked it up; he brought it close to his eyes and inspected it.

Oh yes. This was it—true, authentic chocolate pudding cups.

Just like Haruhi had wanted.

* * *

It was late; the world outside her window was a dingy black, the moon was high in the night sky, and the clock had just clicked into place at 11:34. Haruhi's body told her she needed to go to sleep, but her mind—and the insanely tall stack of homework sitting on her desk—told her otherwise. She propped her chin up on her hand, elbow on the desk, and allowed herself to stare off into nothing, zoning out for a few minutes, before moving onto the complex algebra assignment she knew was awaiting her. 

She was startled out of this state by the doorbell ringing; the surprise caught her so that she nearly jumped a foot from her chair. She lifted herself up and padded over to the door, muttering, "Who could that be at this late hour…? Did Dad forget something for work and need to come back?"

Although when she opened the door to see Tamaki standing there, his usual silly grin upon his face, she couldn't completely and honestly say she was surprised.

She sighed in exasperation. "Tamaki-sempai… what are you doing here? It's late, you know…"

His wide eyes blinked at her in innocent confusion. "But Haruhi… aren't you happy to see me?" He seemed childishly disappointed for one moment before the light of recognition ignited in his eyes and he was excited again. "Oh, I almost forgot!" A coy smile found its way onto his face, and he held out the package he had been cradling in his arms. "I brought you a surprise! I know you're going to love it!" he added as she, somewhat reluctantly, took the bag into her own hands.

She glanced up at him as she inspected the suspicious white bag; he looked like he could hardly contain his excitement. Inwardly, she rolled her eyes, before opening the bag and pulling out the contents.

She stared at it for a moment.

Tamaki stared at her, waiting for the reaction he knew was going to come.

But… it didn't.

Instead of a smile appearing on her face—instead of the cute little pink blush he wished would have crept up over her cheeks, that blush he rarely ever saw, that blush he loved so much—she merely looked confused and, again, rather exasperated. She looked back up into his eyes and blinked at him.

"H…Haruhi?" he asked tentatively. "What's the matter? Don't… don't you… like it?"

"Oh, sempai…" She slowly shook her head and, to his great astonishment, a small smile alighted itself upon her delicate features and before either of them knew it, she was laughing.

This startled him quite a bit; not the reaction he was expecting in the least. He didn't know what to say, so he settled for merely standing there.

"Sempai!" she gasped between laughs. "I didn't really _want_ pudding, I just…" She chuckled once more. "It was just a weird… craving, I guess. I only really wanted it for a minute, and then it was gone."

He blinked down at her. "…Craving?" he repeated. "But… you still want the pudding, right? Oh!" he said, once he saw her little glance back down at the pudding in her hands. "I hope it's okay—all they had was chocolate. I didn't know if you liked some other flavor…"

She took one look at the anxious expression on Tamaki's face and all resolve she might've felt before crumpled away—it was late, she was tired, and she was in no shape to have to hold up against his antics. But considering all the homework that was awaiting her in her bedroom… she supposed some pudding—and some company, maybe, as well—couldn't hurt.

"Come on in," she said to him, the smile still on her lips, another laugh threatening to escape, and as Tamaki stared at her, wondered at the beauty in her simple expression… he imagined he saw the beginnings of that lovely pink blush.

* * *

**A/N:** Hooray!! I finished it!!! -dances- Well… it wasn't much, but I hope you liked it, if you read it. It was a good chance to stretch my writing skills—it's been awhile!! I really need some practice if I'm even dreaming of accomplishing NaNoWriMo… -mutters to self- 

Now if you loved this… I have another Ouran story, yes, yes! It's a oneshot, it's about ten times better than this story, and I would love you forever if you read it and reviewed. And maybe, just maybe… look for more from me in the future!

I'd like to thank you all again for your reading! I love you all so much!!

Now please… if you would be so kind to review… you'll maybe get some of those cookies you've been promised maybe. Or maybe super fluffy pink bunnies will come. Or maybe Tamaki will come visit you in your dreams. With pudding. Ahh, pudding.

Thank you, again! -bows- This has been—Rin


End file.
